Think about that

In his most recent harangue against the Black Lives Matter movement titled ” Madison can smell Baltimore’s Smoke ” the caustically and faux avuncular David Blaska sings the praises of the Baltimore mother caught on camera swatting her teenage son in an effort to keep him from joining the riots. Blaska writes that the woman, Toya Graham. is “Mother of the year” for telling news people that she doesn’t want her son to be another Freddie Gray, the 25 year old black man who died after injuries sustained while in police custody, sparking the Baltimore riots. Then Uncle Dave pens this chilling bit of advice: ” Think about that. Obey the law as a survival strategy. ” Indeed, let’s think about that for a moment. Obey the law as a survival strategy.

Implicit in Blaska’s advice is the acknowledgment that if young black men want to stay alive they need to stay out of police custody. Think about that.

Never mind that six Baltimore police officers have been charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Never mind that Freddie Gray’s voice box was inexplicably crushed during his fatal ride in the police van. Never mind that Freddie Gray’s spinal cord was severed at 80%, killing him. Never mind that multiple incidents across the country in just the last year alone point to a brutal law enforcement culture which seems to view young black men as a threat to be neutralized rather than American citizens with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. None of this seems of any concern to Uncle Dave.

He just thinks that if young black men want to live they need to stay out of police custody. Obey the law as a survival strategy.

Think about that.

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20 thoughts on “Think about that

  1. I took a different meaning from Blaska’s words. I felt his words in some ways echoed that of Madison Mayor Paul Soglin in this recent spring election when commenting in a debate about what happens when a member of law enforcement says to do something. As Paul noted when an officer says stop one needs to stop and when an order is made to raise their hands, do it.

    It is a true statement that if you do not want the police coming to your door do not break the law. We all have to ask ourselves how ones gets arrested a dozen times by the age that Gray died. What is happening to them, their families, and their communities that seems to make this type of lifestyle in any way acceptable. There are no easy answers but we need to–have to–find some answers.

    Two parents, good schools, jobs with living wages, and a sense that the dreams one has can be lived must again be drummed into the those who have lost hope.

    1. Earth to Gregory, who started breaking up slave families?

      It was plantation/slave owners, selling fathers, selling mothers, selling children.

      For when you get serious about accountability, “The Case for Reparations.” http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/
      If you find anything lacking in his research, please quote it. So far, I haven’t found anyone who can dispute his conclusions.

      Below is how the piece begins:

      “And if thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing today.
      — Deuteronomy 15: 12–15

      Besides the crime which consists in violating the law, and varying from the right rule of reason, whereby a man so far becomes degenerate, and declares himself to quit the principles of human nature, and to be a noxious creature, there is commonly injury done to some person or other, and some other man receives damage by his transgression: in which case he who hath received any damage, has, besides the right of punishment common to him with other men, a particular right to seek reparation.
      — John Locke, ‘Second Treatise’”

    2. Thanks John and to Gregory, I don’t know how you could be so ignorant to the background and the current, yet decades old symptoms here, the face of which is 60% of black men around 30 yrs old have been or are still incarcerated. Civil rights for the LGBT white folks but those racial minorities should get the lives together. You are sickeningly disingenuous with your comment.

      A recent reminder to the totally elitist and ignorant neoliberals:

      http://inthesetimes.com/article/17897/why-did-ferguson-and-baltimore-erupt-look-to-the-government-backed-history

  2. Gregory,

    With all due respect, right now what we need to know is what makes agents of the state feel as though they can recklessly treat an American citizen such that he dies from injuries sustained while in their custody. That question takes precedent over all others. Cops are killing young black men in this country on a fairly regular basis, often with impunity. That has to stop immediately. Only then can we have a civil discussion about what’s needed next.

  3. I don’t know if any of us well intentioned good souls, but lily white in skin color, can truly appreciate/understand/feel the conditions, restrictions, and racism incurred by the average black man or women on a day in day out, year in and year out, especially if they venture into the white world. I did a partial role reversal briefly for several summers on the south side of Chicago long ago and gained a respect I hold to today bordering on awesome for their ability to cope and hope. If the role or the situation was reversed on a permanent basis, I don’t think I could make it.

    That is what I think about.

  4. It just amazes me how a child ca be shoot, a teenager gunned down a mom murdered and the liberal community says little, but let a drug dealing criminal die for reasons unknown and they have a need to burn loot and attack innocent people in the streets. #Blacklivesmatter is bullshit.

    1. JohnsonR,

      You’re not a conservative. If you were you’d want an end to the job-killing-government-regulations against marijuana.

      Why hasn’t your guy, Obama, prosecuted even one Wall Street CEO?

      They’re the biggest “welfare queens.”

      “Bank Of America Dumps $75 Trillion In Derivatives On U.S. Taxpayers With Federal Approval”

      http://seekingalpha.com/article/301260-bank-of-america-dumps-75-trillion-in-derivatives-on-u-s-taxpayers-with-federal-approval

      To put $75 trillion in perspective, US GDP in 2012 was around $16.5 trillion. We blew a lot more than the $6 trillion they’re claiming in Iraq and Afghanistan. Social Security’s Trust Fund is around $2.3 trillion. Bank of America is just one Wall Street bank. They all have derivative exposure. I’ve seen estimates of $700 trillion, but I don’t think anyone knows.

      Read Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The Case For Reparations,” the link’s in my 7:07am response to Greg. That’s the “conservative” position.

      Look on the bright side, with the new DNA testing you may be related to folks who will be receiving reparations, “The First Family: A New Glimpse of Michelle Obama’s White Ancestors.”

      http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/22/us/first-lady-family-q-and-a.html?_r=0

    2. Black lives only matter ONLY MATTER, if a white person kills one. Shocking that in this instance THREE BLACK OFFICERS were involved.

      The case for reparations… Get over it. The same white liberal elites that spew reparations crap also insist that the Jews should be letting Palestinians murder them.

      I bet not one of the thugs in Baltimore or even one of the many murderers in milwaukee this year could even point out Africa on a map. They are all Americans, lazy assed,hands out, wanting to run the streets thugs.

      there are not any black adult men on any streets, they are in jail, serving hard time that THEY EARNED. NOT HARD TIME THAT THEY DIDN’T EARN. If you break the laws of AMERICA you DESERVE the jail time YOU EARN. Hell fir most of the black youths, it seems the only thing they are willing to work at is breaking laws. The ones that do pick up there boot straps and get an education are harassed NOT BY WHITES, but by there gang banger friends who call then sell outs or uncle Tom’s.

      Meanwhile, nearly every major American city has been solely run by democrats for years.

      1. jharp, says the Bible is “crap.”

        jharp says John Locke and criminals making “restitution” for crimes is “crap.”

        Shorter jharp, I couldn’t find anything wrong with Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “The Case For Restitution.”

        1. Not what I said. But it is interesting that is what you see. What does the Koran say about reparations.

          1. jharp,

            I had no idea that you were a member of Islam. I have no idea what the Koran says about reparations. Please, educate us.

      2. jharp,

        Thanks for another belt-high batting practice fastball.

        “Four dead in shooting on trail bridge in Menasha”

        http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/several-people-shot-on-trail-bridge-in-town-of-menasha-b99493373z1-302369901.html

        “How rural poverty is changing: Your fate is increasingly tied to your town: The geography of poverty in rural America is changing fast.”

        “A person ain’t going to be able to pick up and move to Pueblo broke,” says Martinez, who at 32 is covered with tattoos, including the local area code “719” across his Adam’s apple. “If you ain’t got your drivers license, if you ain’t got your education, you ain’t got a job, you’re stuck.”

        That’s the story of the new rural poverty in America: If your hometown went south, you probably did with it, unless you managed to get out and had the wherewithal to not come back.

        The poverty of Las Animas isn’t the poverty of Appalachia or the Mississippi Delta or an Indian reservation, entrenched and intergenerational, enforced by age-old hierarchies of race and class. It’s the kind of poverty that can affect anyone who finds themselves in a place when the native industries disappear, as they have in Southeast Colorado and other rural areas across America.


        http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/08/07/the-places-are-poor-and-the-people-are-poor/

        Keep defending the job-killing-government-regulations against marijuana and telling yourself you’re a Republican.

        Why don’t you do try something useful like mentioning that we don’t borrow dollars from China or our grandchildren, that we can lower federal taxes (payroll tax (FICA, income, corporate) on the 99% and increase federal spending for health care, education, and infrastructure?

        “(Federal) Taxes For Revenue Are Obsolete”

        http://www.huffingtonpost.com/warren-mosler/taxes-for-revenue-are-obs_b_542134.html

      3. jharp, I apologize for not reminding you above that before he was Governor, Scott Walker was crushing Milwaukee County as County Executive.

        via
        @kcrowebasspro

        “Milwaukee County is extremely bad for income mobility for children in poor families http://buff.ly/1Jl3fqK 1 of the worst counties in U.S.”

        #mybad

        And as Governor for the last four years he’s doing it to the entire state, “Report: Wisconsin worst in nation on shrinking middle class.”

        http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/report-wisconsin-worst-in-nation-on-shrinking-middle-class/article_f802788b-2405-5e5f-9fe3-522939779911.html

  5. Yes what we need are more tattooed up uneducated thugs getting high! Good plan!

    Keep spouting nonsense! Never have I mentioned or come out in favor or against put legalization. I have most certainly pointed out the interesting fact that nearly every major city in America had been run alley by democrats for DECADES with trillions of dollars spent by said leader’s to LINE their own pockets and little results for the blacks and Latinos they “serve”. I’LL SAY IT AGAIN. YOU LIBERAL KNOW IT ALL COMMENTATORS insist that Scott Walker has destroyed wisconsin in less than five years but yet the brightest liberal minds in charge of nearly every major city for DECADES continue to lead their flocks into despair. Nice job liberals!

    I’ll end wroth one suggestion. Quit answering emery part with some form of THE CASE FOR REPARATIONS or YOUR WALL STREET BULL CRAP and the new favorite POT LEGALIZATION.

  6. Yes what we need are more tattooed up uneducated thugs getting high! Good plan!

    Keep spouting nonsense! Never have I mentioned or come out in favor or against put legalization. I have most certainly pointed out the interesting fact that nearly every major city in America had been run alley by democrats for DECADES with trillions of dollars spent by said leader’s to LINE their own pockets and little results for the blacks and Latinos they “serve”. I’LL SAY IT AGAIN. YOU LIBERAL KNOW IT ALL COMMENTATORS insist that Scott Walker has destroyed wisconsin in less than five years but yet the brightest liberal minds in charge of nearly every major city for DECADES continue to lead their flocks into despair. Nice job liberals!

    I’ll end with one suggestion that you will ignore. Quit answering every post with some form of THE CASE FOR REPARATIONS or YOUR WALL STREET BULL CRAP and the new favorite POT LEGALIZATION.

  7. The courts will sort out culpability in Baltimore. That is as it should be and as it should be in Madison, where Young and Foolish has pre-judged the police officer as guilty without trial. Obeying the law is a great survival strategy. Disobeying the law can get you arrested, hand-cuffed, wrestled to the ground, restricted to electronic monitoring, fined, jailed, imprisoned, shot, injured, job prospects ruined, and — perhaps in Baltimore — abused. Disobeying the law hurts other people. It hurts the person you robbed, stabbed, shot, vandalized, terrorized, beat, threw stones at, or otherwise disadvantaged. High crime areas = High victim areas. Disobeying the law brings NO good results. BTW: You may have noticed, I did not restrict this advice to people of any one race. It applies to everyone.

    Only to a liberal could “obey the law” be a controversial life strategy.

    1. You’re the coward, David Blaska. You didn’t write ” obey the law “, you wrote ” obey the law as a survival strategy ” and you were writing about the Freddie Gray case, so how about you man the fuck up and have the guts to stand by what you actually wrote instead of cherry picking your words later. You wrote ” obey the law as a survival strategy “. You were writing about Toya Graham not wanting her son to become another Freddie Gray, who died as a result of injuries sustained while in police custody, and the cops involved have now been charged in his death. So how else are your original words to be interpreted if not that young black men should stay out of police custody if they want to survive? You wrote it, Blaska, I’m just reporting on your words. Coward.

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